The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-03-17

nacle this morning the Rev. T. De Witt
Talmage, DID,, expounded appropriate
passages Of Scripture. He then gave
out the hymn beginning:
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
| And all the world go free2
Mol there's CROSS for every one,
| And there's CROSS for me.
The subject of his discourse was "Sting-
ing Annoyances, and his text Deuteronomy
vii, 20 "1he Lord thy God will send the
hornet" He said:
1t seems as if the insect world were de-
termined TO war against the human race.
II Is every year attacking the grain fields
and the orchards and the vineyards. The
Colorado beetle, the Nebraska grass
hopper, the New Jersey locust, the uni
v3rsal potato destroyer seem to carry on
the work which was begun ages ago when
the insects buzzed out of Noah's Ark as the
door opened.
In my text the hornet flies out on its
mission. 1t is species Of wasp, swift in
Its motion and violent in its sting. Its
touch is torture to man and beast. We
have seen all the cattle run believing from
the cut of its lancet. In boyhood we used
TO stand cautiously looking at the globular
nest hung from the tree branch, and while
we were looking at the wonderful PASTE
board covering we were struck with some-
thing that sent US shrieking away. The
hornet goes in swarms. It has captains
over hundreds, and twenty of them at
tacking ono man will produce certain death.
The Persians attempted to conquer Chris
tian city, but the elephants and the beasts
| on which the Persians rode were assaulted
by the hornets, so that the whole army was
broken up and the besieged city was
rescued. This burning and noxious insect
Btung out the Hittites and Canaanites from
their country. What the cleaning sword
and chariot Of war could not accomplish
was done by the puncture Of an insect
The Lord sent the hornet.
| My friends, when we are assaulted by
behemeths of trouble-great behemeths Of
trouble-we become chiValric, and we as
sault them; we get on the high mettled
steed of our courage, and make cavalry
charge at them, and, if God be with us, we
come out stronger and better than when we
| went In. But, alas for these insectile an
noyances of life-these foes too small to
shoot-these things without any avoir-
| dupois weight-the gnat, and the midges,
and the flies, and the wasps, and the hor-
nets In other words, it is the small sting
| ing annoyances of our life which drive us
I out and use us up. Into the best condi-
toned life, for some grand and glorious
, purpose, God sends the hornet.
l remark in the first place that these
small singing annoyances may come in
. the shape of sensitive nervous organiza-
| ton. People who are prostrated under
! typhoid fevers or with broken bones get
plenty of sympathy, but who pities any
| body that is nervous2 The doctors say,
, and the family says, and everybody says,
! "Oh. she's only little nervous; that's all. !"
| The sound of heavy foot, the harsh clear
| ing of n throat, discord in music, a want
I of harmony between the shawl and the
glove on the same person, curt answer,
| passing slight, the wind from the east,
| any one of ten thousand annoyances opens
the door for the hornet. The fact is that
the vast majority Of the people in this coun-
try are overworked, and their nerves are
the first to give out. A great multitude
are under the strain of Leyden, who, when
he was told by his physicians that if he did
not stop working while he was in such poor
physical health he would die, responded,
doctor, whether live or die the wheel
must keep going around" These persons
of whom Ispeak have a bleeding sensitive
ness. The flies love to light on anything
raw, and these people are like the
Canaanites spoken Of in the text Or in the
context-they have very thin covering
and are vulnerable at all points. And the
Lord sent the hornet.
Again, these small insect annoyances
may come to us in the shape of friends
and acquaintances who are always saying
disagreeable things. There are some peo-
pie you cannot be with for half an hour
but you feel cheered and comforted. Then
there are other people you cannot be with
for five minutes before you feel miserable.
They do not mean to disturb YOU but thew
sting you to the bone. They Batherup all
the yarn which the gossips spin, and peddle
1t. They gather up all the adverse criti-'
cisms about your person, about your busi-
moss, about your home, about your church,
and they make your ear the funnel into
which they pour it. They laugh heartily
when they tell you, as though it were o
good joke, and you laugh too, outside.
These people are brought to our attention
In the Bible. in the book of Ruth: Naomi
went forth beautiful and with the finest of
worldly prospects into another land, but
after while she came back widowed, and
sick and poor.
What did her friends do when she came
back to the cityP They all went out, and
instead of giving her common sense con-
ISOLATION, what did they do? Read the
book of Ruth and find out. They threw up
their hands and said: "Is this Naomi2" as
much as to say: @How very bad you
lookl" When l entered the ministry l
looked very pale for years, and every year,
for four or five years, hundred times
year. was asked II l was not in con-
sumption. Ana passing through the room
would sometimes hear people sigh and
cry: "A-ahl not long for this world" /
resolved in those times that I never, in any
conversation, would say anything depress-
ing, and by the help of God / have kept
the resolution. These people of whom I
speak reap and bind in the great harvest
field Of discouragement. Some days you
greet them with hilarious "Good morn
ing, and they come buzzing at you with
some depressing information. The Lord
sent the hornet.
II is astonishing how some people prefer
to write and to say disagreeabie things.
That was the case when, years ago, Henry
M. Stanley returned after his magnificent
exploit of finding DR.. David Livingstone,
and when Mr.. Stanley stood before the
sayants Of Europe, and many Of the small
critics of the day, under pretense of get
ting geographical information, put to him
most insolent questions, he folded his
arms and refused to answer. At the very
time when you would suppose all decent
men would have applauded the heroism Of
the man there were those to hiss. The
Lord sent the hornet. And when, after.
ward, that man sat down on the western
coast Of Africa, sick and worn, perhaps, in
the grandest achievement of the age in the
way of geographical discovery, there were
small critics all over the world to buzz and
buzz and caricature and deride him; and
when few weeks after that he got the
London papers, as he opened them out
few the hornet.
When see that there are 80 many
people in the world who like to say dis
agreeable things and write disagreeable
things | como almost In nv weaker mo-